In our Style Challenge series, we ask some of our favorite bloggers from around the web to surprise us with their ideas for creating a stylish and functional space using Home Depot products as a starting point.

For her Patio Style Challenge, Kelly from View Along the Way built a gorgeous new deck to house her brand new Barnsley Patio Dining Set. With the help of a few family members, she gave her small patio a fresh, colorful start, just in time for spring! Read on for Kelly’s very practical small patio decorating ideas.

We like to joke around about how tragically neglected our backyard is, despite that fact that we live outside in the warmer months. Exhibit A, my attempt to replicate this gorgeous outdoor space by Tanglewood Conservatories– but on a virtually nonexistent budget:

Ha! Pretty sad right? Even worse when you get up close and check out that poor, sad little patio:

All together now: awwwwww. So sad.

We actually invited people over for barbecues on that patio. (If you’ve ever been to my house for a barbecue, I’m so sorry, my friend.) But good news! Thanks to a little motivation from the great peeps at The Home Depot, we’ve finally given that spot the attention it needed.

Hellooooo lovah!

First step was covering up that cracked, stained patio with a fancy new deck. Just between us, my main motivation for adding a deck was because I thought it would look better. My husband and my dad, who actually made the thing happen, were convinced all along that a new deck would change the way we used our backyard. I’m so happy to report that we were all correct. You can see the whole build process here, but let me just say: it was a relatively quick, instant-gratification project. We are in love with it.

New Deck, you have rocked my world. You will rock it off its axis when we can stain you a dark color in a few months once you have acclimated to the weather and are ready to accept stain.

The Home Depot hooked us up with the beautiful six-person Barnsley Metal Top Patio Dining Set. We were so excited for it to arrive, but at first we were kinda disappointed. It didn’t look like the pictures, and it was slightly uncomfortable:

But then we took it out of the box. *wink*

It’s absolutely stunning and super cushy.

I wanted our outdoor area to be comfortable, bright and colorful, so I did a little shopping for inexpensive outdoor rugs and found this pretty navy one, then I painted the white backdoor with some leftover red exterior paint we had from a previous project.

We’ve already enjoyed many meals on our new furniture, which I topped with a beautifully patterned runner and bright flowers.

The lush, beautiful greenery, flowers and planters all came from our local Home Depot store.

The whole shebang has gotten an enthusiastic thumbs-up from old and young alike.

Kelly blogs about do-it-yourself home projects at View Along the Way, where she chronicles her family’s attempts to fix up a beaten-down foreclosure, with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor to keep it all in perspective. They share easy step-by-step tutorials, ideas and inspiration for improving your home on the tiniest of budgets.

Style Challenge is a series of posts from guest contributors who aim to bring you fresh inspiration and ideas for your home and garden using a single Home Depot product as a starting point. Kelly received the Barnsley Dining Set from The Home Depot and a gift card, but The Home Depot provided no other compensation. The opinions and ideas Kelly expressed are her own.

[...] warm, welcoming feel that you’re trying to accomplish in your outdoor space. Why not build a raised deck structure to define the area like Kelly Marzka of View Along The Way did here. This idea applies to any [...]

The beautiful conservatory and outdoor space was designed and built by Tanglewood Conservatories, a US company specializing in unique custom conservatories, greenhouses and skylights. http://www.tanglewoodconservatories.com

It would be great if you got the facts right and gave the right people credit for their work.

[...] Head over here to see the finished product! (HUUUGE thanks to Home Depot for allowing me to join in with such an incredible group of DIY bloggers for this fun Patio Style Challenge! I seriously loved every single second.) [...]

I’ve been reading through some of the posts in this series, and your “old” patio slab is exactly what we have as a patio. Love what you did to make it so big and functional. I’m getting lots of good inspiration!

Wow, I’m impressed. I don’t have a green thumb for plants or decorating, but this looks like something even I could manage. The back of my house looks pretty much like their “before” picture – concrete slab, bbq grill and some dog water bowls. I’m preparing my “honey do” list now so we can try to get something like this done by July 4th bbq. Thanks for the inspiring post

Love this project! After 6 summers of talking about doing something about my old block patio, this is really inspiring. Sad to see that lovely little pool house go, but you have to make room for progress. Congratulations on a job well done!

[...] outdoor spaces designed by some of our favorite design and DIY bloggers. Whether it’s a lovely DIY deck or a small-space spruce-up, we’ve been inspired by all of the helpful tips that our bloggers [...]

[...] outdoor spaces designed by some of our favorite design and DIY bloggers. Whether it’s a lovely DIY deck or a small-space spruce-up, we’ve been inspired by all of the helpful tips that our bloggers [...]

[...] outdoor spaces designed by some of our favorite design and DIY bloggers. Whether it’s a lovely DIY deck or a small-space spruce-up, we’ve been inspired by all of the helpful tips that our bloggers [...]

This is so beautiful, looks just like a place you would love spending time during any season. Has inspired me to have my son and daughter in law try to replicate this at their home. Their outdoor space is very similar to yours and they can see the result of all of their hard work which will make the job much easier to endure.
Thank you for posting this, I LOVE IT

Pretty. The plain concrete patio would’ve sufficed with a cleaning and appropriate paint. Could even have gone a bit creative using different color paints in whatever pattern you wished. I once spruced up a plain concrete basement floor with two different grey colors to make it look like stone. Half the folks who walked through thought it was real. Tedious but not that hard.

Love all the homeowner effort in this but wondering why a nail gun was used to nail through the face of each piece of decking board. Deck clips with hidden fasteners would leave all wood deck surface free of nails, indentations and rusting problems. Then it would look like a beautiful unblemished wood floor outdoors and easier on little bare feet too.

Kelly!
Look at you! Congratulations on hitting the big time! (And, of course, on the GORGEOUS new deck!) I”m sure you’ll all enjoy spending time out there now. Although, I do miss the pool house… It was fabulous, dahling.

Ha ha, that photo of your son sitting on the “uncomfortable” Home Depot furniture is awesome. You definitely had me at first! Everything turned out beautifully…and you are a styling genius, my friend! I especially love the bright and bold flowers and the galvanized tin bucket and yummy looking soda. Those little details just complete the look. (And the rug looks AMAZING in these pics…even better than the shop image.) Well done, Kelly. (And Home Depot.) Well done!

What a great transformation! We almost built a deck too, but I lost the nerve lol. You make it look so painless! I love what you did with the rug and the tablescape, and the bright colors of the flowers you chose really tie everything together. I love it all!

That’s a stunning transformation! I love the dining set and bright blue rug, and what a great way to turn a boring concrete patio (no offense, wink) into a totally gorgeous deck. Looks like you are all set for summer, Kelly!

Anyone who loves a good read with good ideas and tips should stop over at Kelly’s blog View Along The Way. She’s funny and I always enjoy her posts…. like the humor of sitting on the boxes instead of the patio furniture.

I love Kelly’s style and she really made her yard sing! The deck covering that old patio was a great choice and the rug is amazing! So glad she took the furniture out of the box – although that’s a look too!!
Kelly

I love it! It’s colorful, beautiful, AND functional. Right now our back door steps out onto nothingness (literally just dirt) and I think a deck might be in our future. Thanks for adding to my husbands to-do list Kelly, I’ll make sure and tel him it was your idea